Raise the Hammer

Comment 73725

By Zephyr (registered) | Posted February 05, 2012 at 10:24:53

I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who is to start junior kindergarten in September. I live in the North End. The school in her catchment area, Benetto, languishes near the very bottom of performance of all schools in Ontario. Its also dingy and run-down. I want to send my daughter to French immersion (which will now start in grade 1 instead of kindergarten to save money). So I visited her designated French immersion school, Earl Kitchener, on Friday. It was an interesting, old building but unfortunately run-down with peeling paint, no landscaping, dark and foreboding.

I have decided that I have two options 1. move to a better school district with more well-maintained schools. 2. send her to private school (which will be a huge financial sacrifice for us).

All that to say, my sister's kids who live in Milton go to new-built, state-of-the-art schools. Our downtown Hamilton children have dingy, dark, run-down schools that are not even properly maintained. I know there are a plethora of reasons for the poor performance of Hamilton schools, but environment is extremely important. Is it only suburban kids from wealthier areas that deserve clean, bright schools that they can be proud of?

Why is the Hamilton Board of Education spending my hard-earned dollars on a new state-of-the-art building for themselves, while our children do not have the same? Why does the board even have that many employees? Put the money on the front lines, where it will actually have an impact on the future of this city.